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Sunday, June 29, 2008

Best Robot Movie Ever?

Maybe not, but I liked WALL-E better than The Iron Giant or the film starring Wall-E's doppelganger Johnny 5, Short Circuit. I never bothered to see Robots.

The first half of the film is heartbreaking, with glimpses of the aforementioned movies plus E.T. and even a bit of Cast Away.

I know that I'm the creepy old lady when I go see these PIXAR movies in the theater by myself, and I usually try to wait until they're available On Demand (as was the case with the brilliant Ratatouille, which I've already watched twice), but I've been looking forward to Wall-E since last September so I went today, waiting only two days after opening night. As with a Stevie Nicks concert, it was probably better that I went by myself, because once again I was bawling.

I guess there's something about the fantasy of talking rodents and anthropomorphized inanimate objects, robots who feel real emotion, that really gets to me. The world feels so cold and lonely and disenchanting to me that I seek enchantment wherever I can find it. I'm still waiting for my teapot to get up and dance and sing to me like in Beauty and the Beast.

The movie's not perfect and you can't shake the corporate shudder of Disney from it (despite its eco-political message and demonization of such mega-corporations), but it is poetic and devastating at moments, charming and hilarious at others. If watching scenes from Hello Dolly never broke your heart before (though it should, with Thornton Wilder's timeless themes of breaking out, finding adventure, falling in love, and finding your way home again), it most certainly will now.